Think of it like you’re developing your own secret society with its own secret codes.

This is for two reasons.

The words you choose will help your students learn and remember what you’re teaching them.

Your students will feel a part of a community. In fact, you are developing a community. And language will bring your students closer together.

Principle #2: Develop Your Own Culture

Create principles that define your culture. This is another way to bring people closer together.

A well-defined culture creates a sense of respect and boundaries for its members. This will inform members how to behave, and interact with each other.

This could be stated as simply as “Here are the 5 Principles to follow while in our online course together.”

Principle #3: Introduce Role Models or Leaders

Have more than just one person or instructor to reach out to during the course.

This is a great benefit because, again, it creates a stronger sense of community and reinforces the culture. It gives students a choice of who they’ll reach out to with questions or concerns.

And all of these elements reduce refunds and drop-outs.

Pro Tip…

Create a secret Facebook group that allows members to interact with each other during the course. You can pin your glossary of terms and course principles. This group will give students a place to utilize their new culture and language.

These three principles do two important things for successful online courses.

They create a sense of community, which keeps engagement high – and your students begging for more.

And they minimize refund rates. You don’t want to create a course, do the marketing for it, get leads, convert those leads, all to just issue a refund. All that work!

These principles will let you stay focused on teaching, and having fun with your students!